Militants assault government building in Baghdad

BAGHDAD (AP) — Gunmen and suicide bombers staged a brazen assault on a government building in Baghdad Thursday, officials said, killing two people in the latest such attack in the heart of the Iraqi capital by militants trying to undermine further the Shi’ite-led government’s shaky authority.

The firefight at a state-run transportation company was one of several attacks that left 11 dead across the city, and came as Iraq grapples with a stubborn insurgency in the country’s western Anbar province. Government troops are trying to oust Al Qaeda-linked fighters and their allies from cities in the area.

At least six gunmen were involved in Thursday’s attack, said Interior Ministry spokesman Saad Maan Ibrahim. The attackers stormed the state-run Company for Transportation in Baghdad’s Canal Street, where numerous government offices are located.

The police shot and killed four of the militants inside the building while the other two blew themselves up at the entrance, Maan told The Associated Press in a phone interview. He also said that the stand-off ended with at least one employee and a policeman killed in the attack, but gave no details on how they died